The Story She Never Lived to Write

Anne Being Frank written by acclaimed playwright Ron Elisha, opened at the Sydney Opera House this week and I recommend you grab a ticket without delay simply because Anne Being Frank is a brilliant reimagining of Anne Frank’s story, performed by award-winning Australian actor Alexis Fishman, herself a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. Alexis is a remarkable actor who inhabits five souls, delivering four accents across this captivating 90 minute, one-act play. Internationally acclaimed performer Alexis gives a transformative performance and earned a well-deserved standing ovation and critical acclaim both in New York and on opening night in Sydney.

Anne Frank never reached her 16th birthday because she died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, a mere six months before the end of WW2. Born in Frankfurt in 1929, for a while her middle-class Jewish life mirrored my father’s, born in the same year in Vienna, not too far away. As fate would have it, my father and his immediate family escaped the Nazis via the kindness of strangers, whereas Anne and her family found solace for a while, hiding out in Amsterdam until the Gestapo found them in their hidey hole one fateful day.

By happenstance, Anne’s father, Otto Frank, published his daughter’s teenage diary in 1947 and henceforth, he gifted millions worldwide the opportunity to learn about humanity through her wise eyes. A brave soul was dear Anne Frank, and this outstanding play brings to life snippets of her hidden life within an attic behind a bookcase, then at Bergen-Belsen, where it is imagined she might swap her innocence for a writer’s stock and trade – pencils and notepads. My favourite aspect of this heartbreaking yet heartwarming play is Anne’s imagined success as a writer living in New York in her twenties – one can dream she’d been saved by some twist of fate.

Anne Being Frank is not to be missed!

Content Warning: adult themes, strong language, antisemitism, war, gun violence, sexual violence, concentration camps.

The lead photo is of Alexis Fishman and Ron Elisha on stage at the Sydney Opera House.
 
Venue:           The Playhouse, Sydney Opera House
Dates:            Saturday 13 – Sunday 21 September 2025
Showtimes:   Wed–Sat 7pm; Wed 17/9: 1pm & 7pm; Sat 20/9: 2pm & 7pm; Sun 21/9: 1pm
Tickets:         From $39 to $110 (+ booking fees)
Bookings:    www.sydneyoperahouse.com